Angels Fall [Mass Market Paperback]

Nora Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2011

The sole survivor of a brutal crime, Reece Gilmore has been on the run, desperately fighting the nightmares and panic attacks that haunt her. She doesn't intend to stay in the sleepy town of Angel's Fist one second longer than she needs to, despite its friendly - if curious - inhabitants, and the irresistible attraction of local writer Brody. However, on a hike into the mountains she witnesses a couple having a vicious argument that culminates in murder. By the time Reece finds Brody and brings him to the scene, both killer and victim are gone. Faced with a lack of evidence, the authorities in Angel's Fist find it hard to believe Reece's story. After all, she's a newcomer in town and yet has already gained a reputation for being jumpy - maybe even a little fragile. But when a series of menacing occurrences makes it clear that someone wants her out of the way, Reece must put her trust in Brody - the one person who does believe her - to find the murderer before it's too late

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Roberts's latest novel of romantic suspense is a cunningly calibrated portrait of a young chef's recovery from violent trauma. While driving in the Grand Tetons, displaced Bostonian Reece Gilmore stops in the small town of Angel's Fist, near Jackson Hole, Wyo., and considers the "Cook Wanted" sign in Joanie's, a local diner. Still rattled by a shooting spree at her Boston restaurant that left her wounded and the only survivor among 12 co-workers, Reece is easily spooked, as noted by her plainspoken new boss, Joanie, and the locals who frequent the restaurant. Among them is a wary, unattached mystery novelist, Brody. Indeed, when Reece claims to have witnessed a murder while hiking along Snake River, few except Brody are inclined to believe the skittish new resident: Sheriff Rick Mardson hasn't found any clear evidence of a woman struck down near the river; Doc Wallace is suspicious of Reece's fragile mental state; and Joanie isn't about to cut Reece any slack while running a busy kitchen. Roberts cleverly casts suspicions on the locals while developing the romance between the two feisty protagonists. A slow-burn start combusts in a satisfying denouement; Roberts's legions of fans will be enthralled. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

After suffering a horrific shock, Reece Gilmore is slowly starting to put her life back together. Leaving her home in Boston, Reece travels around the country, but when she arrives in Angel's Fist, Wyoming, her car refuses to go any further. Planning on staying only until she earns enough money to fix her car, Reece takes a job as a cook in the Angel Food Cafe. Then, as she gets to know her new boss, her co-workers, and the other residents of the little town, including Brody, an annoyingly stubborn yet mysteriously sexy writer, she starts to believe that for the first time in a very long time, she may have found a place she might actually want to call home. Reece's hard-won happiness and sense of security is threatened, however, when she becomes not only the sole witness to a murder but also the next target of the killer, who is determined to drive her crazy. Once again, the best-selling, prolific, and endlessly imaginative Roberts deftly imbues a deliciously subtle sense of menace into a chilling and thrilling plot, thus creating yet another of her many irresistible and terrifically satisfying novels of romantic suspense. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Jove (April 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515143170
• ISBN-13: 978-0515143171
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (182 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Roberts, Nora

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A HIGH CALIBER ROMANCE THRILLER, July 17, 2006

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angels Fall (Audio CD)

Angels Fall is one more romance/thriller by an acknowledged master of the genre, Nora Roberts. This story of a woman striving to overcome a traumatic past is expertly read by Joyce Bean who captures readers by vocally embodying the fears and challenges experienced by the protagonist. No over the top drama for this reader, only a pitch perfect, authentic performance.

Reece Gilmore is literally hanging on with her fingernails. She witnessed brutal killings in the Boston diner where she worked and was wounded herself. Realizing the state she was in she sought help as a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Eventually, she felt well enough to leave and our story takes place primarily in Angel's Fist, Wyoming where she has sought peace and hopefully a stabilized mental condition, free of nightmares and panic attacks.

Once settled in, she hikes up into the mountains and surveys the beautiful surroundings with her binoculars. What she sees is not beautiful at all - it is a couple struggling on the opposite bank of the Snake River. The man has the woman in a stranglehold, and Reece is sure he is killing her.

However, once she reaches another person on the trail, Brody, and asks for help, they return to the scene she described and find absolutely nothing. She knows what she saw, but with her history who will believe her?

Recommended listening.

- Gail Cooke

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Meandering Mystery, July 31, 2006

By 

Kara J. Jorges "Avid Reader" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Angels Fall (Hardcover)

Once again, Nora Roberts has penned a mystery about people in a small town living at the foot of spectacular mountains. It's not more of the same, though, because the people of Angel's Fist, Wyoming have a much different flavor than the residents of Lunacy, Alaska, and the places themselves are not much alike.

Reece Gilmore is the sole survivor of a murder spree in a restaurant in Boston, where she had been a chef. After months of therapy and hospitalization, Reece is trying to put herself back together. She's meandering across the country in her old car, stopping from time to time to work long enough to make enough money to move on. Afraid of the dark and obsessive about locking doors, Reece limps into Angel's Fist with her car overheating. Seeing a sign in a diner window, the cordon bleu chef takes a job as a fry cook and, eventually, rents an apartment above the diner and starts settling in. One day while out hiking, she stops to rest in a scenic spot overlooking the Snake River and spies a couple in her binoculars. When their argument erupts into murder, Reece runs down the trail and into Brody, a thriller writer who lives in Angel's Fist. They report the murder and direct the police to the place where it happened, but no trace of an altercation is found.

On the heels of that incident, strange things start to happen in Reece's apartment. Things are put in the wrong place and once she even finds her front door unlocked and open. At first, Reece believes she's having memory lapses, but as the bizarre happenings escalate, she and Brody start to believe the killer is messing with her head. With no victim and no trace of a crime, most of Angel's Fist believes Reece is losing it, but she is convinced that a very real killer is on the loose. In between the intrigue, Reece and Brody start having a hot affair, so nobody takes the fact that he believes Reece too seriously.

I figured out exactly what happened as soon as it happened, the reasons why, and who the guilty party was. The only thing left was waiting to see if I was right, which I was. Still, I doubted myself a couple of times.

The pace of this book is on the slow side for Nora Roberts, but never boring. There was always something happening to keep the story moving. Reece was obsessive and jittery, but not frail or clingy. Brody was all personality and I never really got a good picture of him in my head. Though not the most compelling or gripping book in the Roberts collection, it is nonetheless a good sample of her work. Nora has the ability to weave good stories with a different cast and at varying paces, and still make us keep turning the pages every time. Even meandering along, Angels Fall is another compelling tale by a powerhouse writer.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Angels Fall, March 3, 2008

By 

Kelly "Reviewer for The Sinfully Sensuous" (Littleton, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angels Fall (Mass Market Paperback)

Reece Gilmore was a chef in Boston where she was the only survivor of a brutal slaying at her restaurant. After therapy and hospitalization, Reece takes to the road in search of peace. Still suffering some of the aftereffects of her horrendous attack, she is hoping that Angel's Fist will provider her some relief from the panic attacks and fear that have taken over her life.

She settles into the small town working as a cook in the local diner, but while hiking Reece sees a murder take place. She is certain of what she has seen, and the only one that will believe her is a popular author Brody. Brody believes Reece, but has also been informed of her past. He sees some of her unusual behavior, but sticks with his gut instinct that she is telling the truth.

Not many can describe a setting like NR. I can picture it very clearly when I read her books. Reece is not your typical main character. She has issues and at times is very fragile. I liked the characters, and the secondary characters were also very well done.